A Glenrothes man left in a wheelchair by botched surgery says he is devastated the doctor who operated on him has been allowed to return to work.
Alan Middleton (49) is unable to walk more than a few yards after Dr Colin Mainds put an implant on his spine four years ago.
Although Dr Mainds was found guilty of misconduct involving several procedures at BMI Ross Hall Hospital in Glasgow, he was not struck off by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.
Instead, he will work under conditions, including supervision, for two years.
The consultant orthopaedic surgeon failed to provide good clinical care to nine patients, including Mr Middleton, at the private Crookston hospital between 2008 and 2009.
A furious Mr Middleton said he was left speechless by the tribunal panel’s sanction.
“It’s just a matter of time before this man kills someone,” he said.
Father-of-three Mr Middleton began suffering from back pain in 2002 and was referred to Dr Mainds for a Wallis ligament. Shortly after the operation an x-ray revealed the implant was in the wrong place.
After corrective surgery, Mr Middleton developed an infection and spent two weeks in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
The former banker had to give up work due to his condition and he and wife Michelle were forced to leave their two-storey home and move into Kingdom Caravan Park, Glenrothes, with two-year-old daughter Samantha.
He said: “I knew before the surgery that I wouldn’t get back fully to what I was before but it was to give me a better quality of life and the hope of getting a job again. That’s been ruled out now.
“I’m on morphine twice a day with extra in between. No one would employ me like this.”
The panel, sitting in Manchester, found Dr Mainds’ fitness to practice impaired but decided his errors were not so serious they could not be remedied.
Although it recognised his “inadequate” surgery had “far-reaching” consequences for nine patients, it said they took place during a limited period in an otherwise unblemished career.
Chairman David Flinter said: “The incidents occurred at a time when your workload had increased greatly in consequence of Ross Hall Hospital’s contract with the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary under the waiting list initiative scheme.”
Dr Mainds, from the Isle of Arran, admitted 13 charges. He told the panel he was a “workaholic” who let his workload “spiral out of control”.